The First Quarter Quell
by 123broadwaygirl
Summary: Hey, my name is Piper Summers. I'm 17 years old and last year I won the 24th Hunger Games. But guess what? I'm not done. Because this year is the 25th Hunger Games. Meaning it's the First Quarter Quell. Little did I know, I would have to go back in. Fun.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue-**

There I was. Just me and Arty Brooks. He was almost dead, about to die any moment. I guess I didn't need to do what I did. I would've won anyway. But I did do it. Just like I did with the other eight people I killed. I decapitated him. Right there in then. Not a care in the world.

Then I kept hearing it. It was the sound which replayed in my mind over and over again. It was like a television stuck on instant replay. His last scream. The sound of his head rolling on the flood with a surprisingly loud thud. Seeing the blood that sprayed, not only on the floor, but all over me.

All that was nothing though. It was nothing compared to the sound of that one scream. Over and over again I heard it. I felt myself notice how much of a monster I'd become. It was because of the capitol. They had no right. No right to take me away from my family. They had no right to kill my little brother and sister. No right.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen of Panem! I give you Piper Summers! The winner of the 24th Hunger Games!" I stood there for a moment before falling to the floor in tears. I broke.

I sprung up in bed breathing hard and sweating like a pig. Tears littered my hazel eyes.

"Piper?" I heard. "Piper, are you okay?" I looked up, sniffling, to see my older brother, Cory, standing in the doorway. His blonde hair was utterly messed up and you could obviously see I'd been the one to wake him up. "You were screaming... kind of loudly." I didn't respond. I couldn't. I hadn't noticed before, but despite sweating, I was shivering like one would in the dead of winter. I just brought my knees to my chest, clutching them as tightly as possible.

"He won't get out of my head!" I cried. This was one I'd been having for quite a while now. Sometimes it was Bliss Lifton or Dylan Gonzalez -Whom I burned to death- or one of the other people I killed. But most of the time it was Arty. Every time I closed my eyes I saw his bloody cranium hit the dirt covered floor. Every time there was silence I heard his last scream. I couldn't take it anymore. It was as if he'd been haunting me for the things I couldn't change.

It'd been a year since my games. It was about 4 months since my victors tour. Now, it was the day before the reaping for the 25th Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell.

I'd be a mentor now. Responsible for two new tributes every year... or so I thought anyway.

"I know," Cory sighed, sitting on the bed and wrapping his arms around me. He rested his head on mine and I snuggled into his chest like a three year old would with her own father. When Cory took care of me like this, you wouldn't be able to tell he was only twenty-one years old. You'd think he was at least thirty. And as for me, being seventeen, it was almost shameful the way I'd been acting. But if you went through the things I'd been through... well, you'd understand.

"Why won't it go away?" I whimpered, fighting away the tears that were threatening to spew from my eyes.

"I don't know, Pipe." Cory sighed. "I don't know if it'll ever go away." He breathed, stroking my hair softly. I whimpered at the thought. "But don't think about that right now. Okay?"

"What if I can't keep either of the tributes alive?" I asked. "I don't want to be responsible for two lives every single year."

"I know, Pipe..." He sighed, "I know." But he didn't know. He didnt know how I felt. What I'd gone through. Sure, he'd gone through a small portion of it. Losing Kenny and Lydia, our little brother and sister, yeah. But not killing eight people. Not being so paranoid you keep a knife under your pillow. Not any of that.

After a while I felt my eyelids grow heavy. I didn't want to sleep. I was scared to doze off and maybe never wake up again. But the temptation of sleep had won over and I slowly drifted off.

Little did I know what was to come.

The next day was the first ever Quarter Quell after all.

So, that being said, wish me luck. And may the odds be ever in my favor.

**So... thoughts? I've never written on here before so I hope it's alright... please comment and stuff... Thanks! **

**A new chapter will be out soon... I hope. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1-**

"Wakey, wakey Piper!" I heard an all too preppy voice say. I groaned flipping over onto my aching stomach. I was in absolutly no mood for Arianna right now. I just didnt want to deal with her. "Oh no, I don't think so Cuzo. Get your stubborn butt out of bed _now_."

"You can't tell me what to do," I groaned into my pillow. With that said, I was shoved to the floor with a violent push.

Out of reflex, I reached for my knife under my pillow, grabbed hold of the grip and chucked it towards my quote-unquote "Attacker." Thankfully, it flew past her and ended up lodging itself the wall behind her. She wasnt the least bit frazzled by it though. She was so used to it. By now it had become sort of a reflex to move out of the way before I even reached the floor.

"Sorry," I mumbled under my breath, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I stood up with a small groan. "But I hate it when you do that." She walked around my bed and stuck a hand out towards me. I ignored it and stood up myself.

"Hey, there'd be something wrong with me if I didnt do that every morning." She smirked, walking over to the wall and digging the blade of my knife out of the wall. "Now get dressed and come down now. Cory made breakfast, after we have to drop you off at the justice building." I rolled my eyes as she lightly tossed the knife onto my bed.

"Why can't we trade? I'll stay home and go to school and you can go to the Capitol and help people die. I like that idea a lot better."

"Sorry cuzo," she smiled mockingly, walking towards the door. "Oh, and dress nice. You're going to be on TV for crying out loud." With that, she walked out. I groaned loudly leaning against the wall for a moment. _Stupid Hunger Games, _I thought while walking over to my abnormally large closet. Half the clothes I would never even dream of wearing. It was all too girly or too fancy or too... too... _Capitol-ish_.

Just as I opened the large wardrobe, something topled out of it. I screamed loudly, closing my eyes tightly, fear stricken. But after a few seconds of nothing attacking me, I looked up and discovered a dress or something that fell onto the floor. I rolled my eyes, picking up the ugly pink thing and tossing it off to the side on the floor. This was driving me insane.

"Hurry up!" Ari called up the steps. I groaned, grabbing a sort of decent looking sliver dress with a red belt. It resembled my district well which is what everyone wanted. I hated District Three. I hated everything about it. The computers, the factories, the _disgusting_ colors. It was one of the reasons why I got out alive. Not only did I decapitate, burn, and snap people's necks... I also blew them up and elecricuted people. Beautiful, right?

I hated everything my district stood for. Everything I stood for.

I quickly changed, stuffing my knife into my grey boots and trudged down the stairs. "You look beautiful!" Ari smiled, standing up. "Now twirl," she said, wiggling a finger around. I sighed, slowly turning just to satisfy her. "Simply georgous! But one thing..." She said, walking towards me. She grabbed a brush that had been setting on a near-by table and started brushing my hair in small strokes. I had a sudden flashback of when my little 13 year old sister, Lydia, used to brush my hair at night simply because she felt like it. I shivered at the cruel thought, my body filling with anger. It quickly flooded away though as Cory walked in wearing a grey dress shirt, red tie and black pants.

"What do you think? Too much?" He asked, smiling and spinning around.

Ari laughed and walked over to fix his tie. "Nah, you look stunning." She smiled.

Okay, so I should tell you a little bit about Ari. First of all, she was my cousin. Her mom and dad both past away in the same factory fire as my parents did about 3 years ago. She was naturally beautiful with her forest green eyes, natural red hair and an angelic face. I, on the other hand, was the exact oppisite. I had brown hair that was always getting notted, ugly hazel eyes and freakles that dotted my whole body. I hated the way I looked compaired to her. Oh, and another thing, she was tall and had the prettiest smile you could imagion. I didnt. As kids, I'd always envied her in ways I just cant understand. But as we grew older, she became more like an older sister to me... which was kind of awkward considering I was a year older then her.

After Lydia and Kenny were killed and I came back from the Hunger Games, Cory and I were both utterly messed up in many ways. I was far worse obviously but... you get it. Anyway, after I came back, instead of things being like they were, it turned different. Arianna was no longer the annoying cousin who follwed me around all the time. Now, she was basically the person who took care of both me and my older brother. She was forced to throw away any of the childhood she had left to help me...

I guess that's what family's for though, right?

After breakfast, Ari and Cory decided to drop me off at the Justic Building so some stupid Peacekeepers wouldnt have to. "So, Miss Summers, how does it feel to actually be a mentor, of all things, in this year's Hunger Games?" Cory asked, playfully nudging me in the elbow as we passed several different factories and buildings.

"It sucks," I replied, walking ahead of them.

"Oh, come on Pipe. I was kidding," he sighed, running up behind me. I rolled my eyes and trudged on. "Piper, I'm sorry."

"Whatever," I grumbled, looking back, surprised that Ari hadnt cut in yet. She usually came in when Cory and I started fighting. But now, she simply watched.

After followling me for a moment, he groaned."Piper Elizabeth Summers, look at me." I scoffed at his attempt. It was _pretty_ pathedic when you really think about it.

"You honestly think you of all people can tell me what to do?" I snapped, coming to a stop but not turning around.

"Well, ya." He replied, a smirk obviously on his face. "I _am_ older then you."

"Your point?" I asked.

"I can tell you what I want you to do when I want you to do i-" Before he could finish his sentence I had him pinned up against a near-by tree with my knife to his throat. Still, Arianna said nothing. It was... odd.

"Don't you ever tell me you're in charge of me. You will never be the boss of me. Got it?" I asked. He hesitated before nodding. "Good, we have an understanding." I lowered my knife and stuffed it back in my boot. It kind of found it funny that he thought I'd actually hurt him. Never. I wouldnt dream of it. Ever.

But what was weird was Ari never said a word through all of it.

I brushed it away as we aproched the justice building. I guess whatever was wrong would have to wait.

**So, what do you guys think? I hope it was okay... Please give some feedback! Thanks! **


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello, hello, hello!" Someone almost screamed in my ear as I walked into the justice building. I turned to see my old escort, Destinee Smith, standing there with an utterly fake smile on her face. Destinee and I never really... _fancied_ each other. She pretended to like me for the cameras and she left me alone as long as I never said anything. It was a win-win thing I guess. Anyway, speaking of cameras, I looked over to the side and saw several crew people with running cameras going. I sighed knowing that this would be the rest of my life until there was a new victor from our district. _Yay_.

"Nice to see you again, Destinee," I grinned. She nodded and threw an arm over my shoulder. "You look nice." I said after a while of just walking around the justice building. Destinee seemed sort of jumpy... but it was probably nothing important.

"Thank you, my dear. I just had my skin died for this momentous occasion." She smiled limply. I actually took a second to look at her and was interested by what I saw. Her regularly peachy pink skin was now a dark gray. Her eyelashes were extended and on top of them were little pieces of metal and gears were painted to the side of her face. It was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen... ever. Talk about being devoted to some place you hated.

"It looks good," I nodded. After a while of awkward silence Destinee turned to the camera crew and told them to turn off the cameras and then turned to me. "What?" I asked.

"You may go set up outside," She said to the crew, completely ignoring my question. After they left she turned directly to me and just starred for a moment. It was rather uncomfortable. "I have to warn you, Piper." She said after a moment. "This will be far harder than your past reaping." I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I know that already," I snapped. "Now I'm responsible for two lives that aren't my own." She shook her head, causing some hairs from her white wig to come out of place.

"No. I don't mean that, Piper. I mean-" before she had a chance to finish someone walked in, clearing their throat. I looked up and was utterly shocked to see Dayo Swift, my old mentor, step in.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, sounding as confused as I was. He shrugged his broad shoulders and walked over to us. Unlike with Destinee, I had absolutely nothing against Dayo. In fact, I sort of considered Dayo a friend of some sort. _I didn't have many friends._

"Not sure, a few peacekeepers broke into my house and told me to come here so... here I am." He lifted his shoulders up and down.

"That's not normal..." I said slowly.

"Not at all, but whatever." He just glanced at Destinee for a second before looking back at me. Hating Destinee was something we had in common.

"I'm going to find out what's going on." Destinee declared turning around and walking out. We both waited until we couldn't hear the clacking of her heels before turning to each other once again.

"So how have you been kid?" He asked. I hadn't spoken to him at all since the victory tour yet there still wasn't much to speak about. I just shrugged, I didn't really feel like talking. It seemed like Dayo was the only one who really understood. That's what I loved most about him.

Dayo wasn't much older than me actually. He was only twenty-three. He won the 18th Hunger Games and was just amazing.

"The reaping is about to start." Destinee said in a cheerful voice. The cameras were back. So, I sighed and followed her. Dayo gave me a reassuring smile and put an arm around my shoulders before we walked out onto the big stage to face the rest of my district. I sat next to Mayor Johnson whom was already on the stage and Dayo sat next to me. Destinee stood at the podium.

"Hello and welcome district three to the reaping for our 25th annual Hunger Games." She smiled. "You know the regular steps but this is a rather special year. This year is the First Quarter Quell! Isn't that exciting?" No one responded. The miserable faces on all of the kids stayed. I sat back in my chair almost scoffing. I looked out to see if I could possibly spot Ari or Cory but I got nothing. I remembered being in the situation everyone below me was in and I suddenly had a large feeling of relief. "Aright then..." Destinee sighed, gesturing Mayor Johnson to stand up. I heard a small groan escape from his mouth as he stood up and walked over to the microphone.

"Greetings to all," he said. "I will now open this," he started, taking an envelope out of his breast pocket of his gray suit. "And we will know our challenge for this year's tribute."

For some reason, as he stuck his thumb under the flap of the envelope and slowly tore it, my heart started racing. I found myself actually bending forward to see what would happen. As he pulled the paper out and read it, his face grew dark. I wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one. Then, he cleared his throat.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen," he said. I noticed his hands shaking. "For this year's twist..." he trailed off and then surprised me by actually glancing back to look at me. "This year... the most resent living victor will go back into the arena."

My heart completely stopped.

I couldn't breathe.

No.

This couldn't be happening.

But it was.

I couldn't hear it when Destinee smiled and hugged me while shoving me to the center of the stage. I couldn't hear what she'd said to me. I couldn't hear it when I saw Ari ran out into the isle and start screaming at the top of her lungs as some Peacekeepers and Cory dragged her away.

All I could do was watch. Everything was moving in slow motion.

The next thing I knew a boy whom I knew almost nothing about except his name was Drake Wesley was on the stage next to me. Destinee forced me to shake his sweaty hand and then we were forced back into the justice building.

I stood in the middle of the room still trying to grasp the situation.

_ I was going back?_

_ It wasn't over?_

_ And who was this Drake kid? _

_What was going on?_

_I'm going back in._

_I'll go crazy again. _

That's when it hit. I toppled to the ground, my legs giving out under me. I began sobbing. I couldn't help it. I cried and cried until I heard someone walk in and I looked up to see Cory.


End file.
